By Ronan Glon

Tuesday, Feb 28th, 2012 @ 9:19 am

Over the last month, Pininfarina has released several teaser images of a concept car called Cambiano that it will display at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

The coachbuilder intended on keeping the car's overall design a secret until its official debut, but Italy's Quattroruote magazine has revealed a full set of details about it, as well as numerous official photos.

The Cambiano is a tough car to define. Pininfarina calls it a sports sedan, and the right side of the car certainly looks like one. However, the driver's side only has one door and it looks more like a big, Mercedes CL-like coupe than a sedan.

The car's overall design reflects Pininfarina's newly-adopted styling direction. Gone are the days of grandiose shapes and flashy colors, the Cambiano was designed to be as discrete as possible while still retaining a sleek and imposing stance.

On the inside, Pininfarina has made extensive use of wood that comes from the foundations of buildings in the Italian town of Venice. The coachbuilder claims that this ecofriendly move gives the wooden poles a second life, and adds a touch of class to the interior.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Cambiano is its drivetrain. It is a plug-in hybrid that is equipped with a range-extender, a concept that is becoming increasingly common in the auto industry, but the Cambiano strays from the path. It is equipped with four electric motors mounted in the wheel hubs; each one is rated at 60 kilowatts, which equates to about 80 horsepower. The range extender is a diesel-powered microturbine mounted under the hood.

Pininfarina claims that the Cambiano will hit 62 miles per hour from a stop in just 4.2 seconds, and go on to a top speed of 170 miles per hour. The battery pack has an autonomy of over 124 miles.

It is worth noting that the Cambiano borrows its name from a city in Northern Italy where Pininfarina's headquarters are located. The company chose to name the concept after the town in order to celebrate two anniversaries: the 30 years of the Styling Center, and the 10 years of the Engineering Center.

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